Tim and Mimi's Wedding #1

All this happened in under 48 hours, but I may spend much of the week writing about it. It was that rich and wondrous and full of joy and hope!

Few things are, you know.

A. THE TRIP FROM HELL THERE

Bern and I had planned to drop off the dog at the Pet Lodge and go to Brooklyn. But the morning started slow and badly. I had to take the dog, feeding him popcorn (or as we've always called it because of Josh and Mimi's childhood pronunciation, "poppy-corn") to keep him from barking all the way. Fully worn out by the dog and wet from the rain, I came all the way back home before we got on the road to Brooklyn--no food, no coffee. Stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and got a quasaunt with sausage egg and cheese that I usually love that I couldn't near finish. And it was raining so that it was took heavy for the delay and too light for low speed for the wipers. And they were squealing on every wipe. Goodness gracious, what a start.

I know how to get to Brooklyn. Both Josh and Mimi have lived there over more than a decade before Josh moved to Baltimore. And both lived in Fort Green, a delightful, very diverse and up-and-coming part of the borough. But when I map-quested how to get to our hotel (the NU Hotel...I recommend it highly) the directions sent us over the Brooklyn Bridge rather than the Whitestone, which is the way I know. But I just assumed Map Quest knew better than me. After going 5 miles in 50 minutes on the Merritt because one lane was closed, we went 5 car lengths in an hour trying to get off the FDR onto the Bridge. All in all, a trip that rarely takes 2 hours took 4. And we arrived at the hotel with bladders bursting and John, who had his room reserved by Bern, having to wait almost an hour for us since they wouldn't give him a key until we arrived. Not the most auspicious beginning for what was supposed to be a wondrous, joyful two days.

I was a wreck for several hours after that trip. What was supposed to go 'so right' had, at the very beginning, gone 'so wrong'. I was kinda helpless finding Josh and Cathy and the girls for a late, late lunch at a French Bistro on Smith Street. I was shaken and unsure of myself. Why had what I'd looked forward to for months started so badly?


B. THE JOYOUS TRIP BACK

We came back the way I know--Map quest be damned--BQE to Long Island Express Way to Van Wick to Whitestone and up the parkways. We made it in under two hours even after stopping and having coffee sitting down! It ended as good as it started bad--even more so. Home before 1 p.m., two hours before getting the dog and he was as good for the 15 mile ride as he's ever been, with some poppy-corn to be sure, be so glad to see me and happy to be home. A calm and event-less return, just the way I like things...uneventful and without drama.

So the whole thing came to an end better than could have been expected and a dozen time better than the way it began.

Tim and Mimi's wedding just transformed most everything.

Later I'll tell you the rest....It's worth waiting for, I assure you.